1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to content recording, and more particularly to resolving conflicts where recording is requested for concurrently provided programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices such as Personal Video Recorders and Digital Video Recorders allow broadcast content to be recorded for subsequent playback and other operations. With these devices, a user may navigate a channel guide that lists programs that are currently being broadcasted or that will be broadcasted in the future. The user may select programs from these listings for recording. The devices then schedule the program for recording, and when the program is broadcast, record the program such as by storing files corresponding to the program on a hard disk.
The ever-increasing array of channels available to users in broadcast systems makes it difficult for the user to manage content that will be recorded. In particular, a user may navigate to a program being shown at a particular time, may select the show for recording, but may not realize that the time that the program will be broadcast conflicts with that of another program that had previously been selected for recording. In response to this scenario, previous systems have merely informed the user that a conflict exists, but have done nothing further to help the user resolve the conflict. This frustrates users, as they must independently navigate among programs to attempt to resolve the conflict, and then re-select the new program for recording should they desire.
Compounding the above problem is the provision of a “repeat recording” feature in certain systems. A repeat recording may be invoked for a set or series of programs. For example, a user may elect to “repeat record” a television program belonging to a periodically broadcast series. Specifically, a user may elect to repeat record the television program “Friends,” which will cause the program to be recorded whenever it is broadcast in a given timeslot on a given channel. Whether a repeat recording is previously scheduled, or newly requested, the existence of multiple instances of scheduled recordings complicates conflict resolution as a user might like to retain portions of repeat record schedules that are not subject to conflicts.
What is needed is recording conflict resolution that immediately informs the user of a conflict in detailed fashion, that provides interfaces for immediately resolving the conflict without cumbersome and unguided navigation among scheduled recordings, and that accounts for and resolves conflicts involving repeat recordings.